Types of Funds

The Community Foundation can help provide you with information about the flexible and effective ways your gift can make a difference in our community. Whether you want to be highly involved in recommending funding choices or prefer to rely on community experts to determine funding needs, the Community Foundation offers a variety of fund types to suit your personal philanthropic goals.

These funds allow the Community Foundation the flexibility to address Your community’s ever-changing needs through strategic grant making, year after year. When possible, funds are used to facilitate innovative responses to community opportunities and challenges. Rather than designating how the money will be spent, you allow the Community Foundation to determine the most effective ways to seize our community’s most compelling opportunities or respond to the most pressing needs. A gift to establish an unrestricted fund must exceed $10,000.

Field-of-Interest Funds

A field-of-interest fund gives you the opportunity to target your contribution to the fields most important to you. Whether you are interested in education, youth, healthcare, the arts, or some other area of impact, these funds are broad in scope, yet targeted to meet the persistent needs of the field. Our experienced and knowledgeable staff will use their expertise to identify, evaluate, and award grants to the most qualified and deserving organizations and programs in your area(s) of interest. A gift to establish a field-of-interest fund must exceed $10,000.

Donor advised funds allow you to play an active role in the grant-making process by making recommendations on charitable projects or organizations to support. It is easy to give to multiple nonprofits through donor advised funds, although the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors is legally responsible for approving all grants. A gift to establish a donor advised fund must exceed $10,000.

Designated funds allow you to direct your gift to a specific agency or purpose. Almost any 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization may be designated to receive support for its mission. You identify the recipient(s) you wish to benefit through your gift and our staff manages the annual distribution of funds from the endowment. A gift to establish an agency or designated fund must exceed $10,000.

A scholarship fund lets you help deserving students further their education. The Community Foundation has the ability to help you determine a level of education from preschool to postgraduate work, a field of study, and eligibility requirements. A gift to establish a scholarship must exceed $25,000.

Supporting Organization Funds

With a supporting organization fund, families or corporations with significant assets to transfer may choose to affiliate with the Community Foundation as a supporting organization. The supporting organization retains its own identity and participates fully in the organization’s grantmaking, investment decisions, and operation. The supporting organization gets the benefits of the Community Foundation’s professional and administrative services while sharing our favorable tax status as a public charity. The supporting organization option requires careful consideration by the donor and the Community Foundation. Please contact us for minimum fund size.